Who are East African South Asians? Are they East African or South Asian? Are they a homogenous group or a minority racial community constituting of a diversity of religious, ethnic and caste backgrounds? This course examines the history of East African South Asians, beginning with their resettlement from India to East African from the 12th century to the mid-1940s and ending with their exodus from East Africa to Canada during the period of nation-building that took place shortly after the dissolution of European empire in Africa from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The course will examine themes of trade and commerce, (im-)migration, diaspora, (Anti-Asian and intra-Asian) racism, segregation, citizenship politics and Islamophobia as it pertains to East African South Asians in Africa and Canada. It will also foreground the experiences of East African South Asians.

Africa and Asia Area